Many pushing for generational mix in ANC national executive

16 December 2017 - 11:54 By Siphe Macanda
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Delegates arriving at Nasrec #ANC54.
Delegates arriving at Nasrec #ANC54.
Image: Facebook/MyANC

Delegates to the ANC national conference are expected to push hard for a generational mix among those elected as members of the National Executive Committee (NEC).

TimesLIVE has learnt that delegates‚ particularly from the Eastern Cape‚ are in a drive to nominate youthful leaders to serve in the NEC and are canvassing other provinces to follow suite.

Some of these young leaders that the Eastern Cape delegation has nominated and are canvassing for are former and current ANC Youth League leaders that have served in both national and provincial structures.

These include former Eastern Cape ANC Youth League chairman Ayanda Matiti‚ Eastern Cape PEC member Stella Ndabeni‚ Eastern Cape ANCYL PTT treasurer Sivile Mabandla and Mziwonke Ndabeni‚ among others. Their names appear among those of leaders nominated by some branches in the province. Former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamula also appears among the ‘young blood’ that delegates will be pushing for to be included in the NEC.

Mabandla‚ who is also a businessman and a traditional leader‚ has been instrumental in persuading the province to nominate Mpumalanga chairman David Mabuza as the deputy president.

He and other pro-Mabuza members in the Eastern Cape have been campaigning for the province to consider Mabuza as their preferred candidate for second in command.

However the province nominated ANC Treasurer Zweli Mkhize as its preferred candidate for the deputy president position‚ with him beating Mabuza by a few nominations.

A delegate from the Dr WB Rubusane Region (formerly known as Buffalo City Region) said that they are busy drumming up support for these candidates to be included in the NEC additional members.

“We can not continue being led by these old people only. We need young and fresh ideas in that NEC. We know it will not be easy convincing everyone but we are going through with this‚” the delegate said.

Most of the proposed leaders that the Eastern Cape wants to include in the NEC served in the ANC Youth League during the time Julius Malema was president. Subsequent to its elective conference in August the province came out in support of deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed President Jacob Zuma.

The conference elected Oscar Mabuyane as the provincial chairman‚ who is also a former ANC Youth League and South African Students Congress (Sasco) leader.

Stella Ndabeni was also elected in the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) and is the provincial spokesperson‚ replacing staunch Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma supporter Mlibo Qoboshiyane.

“We are building future leaders and presidents here‚ as the ANC we should have a succession plan. Why must we have old people in the NEC and the top 5? Who will take over from them?” said another delegate from the Alfred Nzo region.

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